rather than pick out individual stocks to trade, it can often be worthwhile to trade the indices themselves, especially in times of high volatility.

for those so inclined, i attach below charts for FTSE and FTSE 250, though one might equally be tempted to trade Dow or S&P, which is significantly broader in its coverage, or even NASDAQ

for ease of reading, i have attached 1 year and 3 month charts in each instance

You are getting our hopes up!!!
I think that I will take profits now, if & when, & then sit on cash for a while until I can figure out the safer stocks for a recession.

Rather than take profits set tight stop losses. the news flow seems to have turned, atleast in the short term. US housing inventories lower, US unemployment claims down, UK insolvencies lower, expected further interest rate cuts. I have no doubt there will be some bumps along the way but this rally might have a few legs left yet With many of the bears stopped out and needing to cover on wednesday, nothing as yet to make them return en masse. I like Cynic's optimistic, albeit cautious view. Heres to another fun day trading.

well said...:)

had long FTSE overnight (placed at 21:05 last night) and took nice profit first thing this morning ..... on doing so, went short DOW as reckon that is looking overheated - currently nicely in the money.

if anyone thinks we are now off into the sunny uplands once more, then he is likley to be in for a nasty shock and a cold bath

Cynic DJfuture up 70+ is it still going to be a down friday?

not trying to douse the euphoria just pissed off with the rags and their rubbish headlines

If a single US family home is priced at the 2007 median of $217,000 -- a 1.8 percent decline from the 2006 median price(reported yesterday) -- the owner is $3,906 poorer than a year ago. $600 rebate ain't gonna cover that

Poorer only if they sell up. No different to holding shares where the market has fallen.

i went short when Dow was indicating +90 .... imo the markets have gone up too far too fast and would not be remotely surprised to see profit taking before the markets close for w/e

Cynic post 685, rebound back up I meant, sorry not very clear reading my post over again.... I also share the view that markets are on a spike at the moment, big falls followed by support and push back up. I share the view that this support will be eroded fairly quickly, like many have alsready said we should see profit taking very soon. There is also still the uncertainty factor playing. May have a dabble on the Nikkei or leave until next week to see what news the weekend papers bring.

Today you may well be right but a further interest rate cut by the fed next week might move things upwards especially if the so called "wall" of money comes back into the market.

a further interest cut in US may NOT be such a good thing and could easily scare the markets even more .... certainly it will put huge inflationary pressures on US a couple of years down the line

and i have still not worked out who will cover these give aways , who wants US paper?

With it being election year,imo all neccessary steps will be taken to appease the markets.
cyril

I suppose in some ways it's beneficial to the US if the dollar weakens in as much as their deficit will be $Trillions of mickey mouse money.
2517

Not surprised for a moment that profit taking kicked in today with everyone taking a beating prior to the RELIEF RALLY (CNBC Speak). But professionals close markets so lets see were we are at at close of play as looking like the FTSE is going up again, or atleast not down. Nothing wrong with the market taking a little breather before it pushes on again. As the market has fallen so much prior to the the bounce, albeit a quick one, it is still in negative territory for 2008 in hard numbers.

As the eternal optimist i just do not see a recession only depressed US housing because of bad bets by multiple home owner speculators, a screwed up banking system underpinned by greed and misappropriated governemnet US overspending on war-mongering. Despite all of this the consumer and the job market is still holding up, interest rates are coming down and if all else fails there are always the soverign wealth funds.

Anyway ill get off my soapbox as even im getting bored with my post :-).. Thanks for listening

and just how will rushing out buying more chinese tat help the US economy

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Retail shares rose Friday, bolstered by hopes that an economic-stimulus proposal will put money back into U.S. consumers' pockets and send shoppers flocking to stores.

meanwhile Dow continues to slip away from this morning's euphoric indications (goody goody!) and SOLA resumes its downward path

well shorted but only for the brave or foolhardy :-)))

Redirecting $'s from over inflated miltary contracts to the domestic economy would be a good start.

its not before time the US economy gets hit hard as credit lines eventually get maxed out. Unfortunately the rest of the world is still hung up on it being the centre of the universe and we all have to suffer with a bad hangover because one of the members of the team drank too much. Im not convinced decoupling will happen anytime soon but sooner are later arab states as well as the chinese are going to sick of importing inflation and the problems that come with it because of the US's mistakes. The mkts will be an even more unpredictible place

My stocks are still going up so what do I care. Volitility breathes opportunity

I've been both brave and foolhardy this week :-) .. :-(